Ten minutes to live your life
by WedgePalmer
Summary: I was angry and upset when URU was closed down a few days after I had got the game. I thought I'd got over it, but the feelings were rekindled watching tributes to URU on youtube. Here's MY tribute to URU. Perhaps the end has not yet been written. Oneshot


**This short fanfic was inspired by a youtube video called the "Last 10 Minutes of URU", or something like that. I had only been playing for a few days when it was shut down. The feelings of anger and sadness at the loss of such a beautiful and deep game were overpowering and were recently re-kindled by watching the video on youtube.**** I thought I'd let it all out on this fic. As always, read and review:**

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_Imagine waiting for your world to end. Imagine everything you know; everything you've worked for, being ripped away from you. Imagine the end._

The courtyard was silent, despite the crowd that was standing there, around the fountain. The only noise was the gentle gurgle of the water, and the occasional sniff. The people of the world were trying to look brave, but there was nothing they could do. We solve puzzles and uncover things, but the only puzzle we could not solve was the one of the end. I sighed and flipped to the back of my book; to gaze at the empty pages there and wish I had been able to see more of this beautiful land. The messages we were getting from all over the network was the same:

"The sky is darkening and the stars are going out."

I glanced at my watch and realised we only had ten minutes of life to live before the stars were gone altogether and darkness enveloped us all. The only reference we had found was an old carving in a cave. The runes translated to:

"_When the stars go out, your story will end"_

I couldn't fight it any longer. I fell to my knees and a sob wracked my skinny frame. Tears rolled down my face and the linking book clattered to the cobblestones before me. Why now? Why was this happening altogether? I had always been able to find answers, solve riddles and the like but I felt truly helpless in this: the vital moment. The little, crude-looking device on my belt suddenly vibrated, once. I unhooked it, and realised that someone had sent me a message on my little Personal Organiser. It looked to be spam, as there was no name attached to the message. A man dressed in jeans and a red t-shirt looked at his watch, illuminated by a glowing lamp on the foot of the staircase behind the fountain, and called out:

"Two minutes, people."

His voice was empty of emotion, and I realised I had stopped crying. Nobody had any room for sadness anymore, as everyone had wept their last. I stood, my black "Fast-Food" logo t-shirt flapping around me in a sudden wind that swept through the city, and I slipped the Organiser on my belt again, pausing to put my hands in my jean pockets for warmth. The air was becoming icy and I saw, to my amazement, icicles forming on the Lamps and balconies around the fountain. In the sky, I looked on at the last couple of stars. They were bright and glittering; defying the invisible force of darkness that had engulfed their predecessors. I found myself wanting to cry again. I'm not usually this emotional, but I guess at the end of the world, one has some breathing room when it comes to embarrassing one's self. A few of the crowd had turned and were saying their final goodbyes to one-another. I joined in; a couple of people there I knew. Hugs and kisses were exchanged and I received both, several times, from complete strangers as I gazed at the sky one last time. I wondered if there was an afterlife. I wondered if there was another world. I wondered what that message had said that I had been sent. Actually I could find out the answer to that question, pretty easily. I reached for my belt.

Before me, the last star went out. There was no epic explosion, no flash of light. It just blinked from existence. For a moment nothing happened, and I began to hope that the carvings had been wrong, but then the wind picked up. It howled through the streets and pieces of paper and rubbish were swept along in great waves. People lowered their heads and closed their eyes, but I stayed standing, staring down my fate.

Oh yeah! The message!

I flipped open the organiser again, and saw what was printed there. I said I would not cry again, but bittersweet tears rolled down my face, were swept from me to the rushing wind and froze into hailstones in a manner of milliseconds. I smiled through my tears and dropped the organiser. The wind was so strong now; the metal pager was taken by it!

I reached for my beloved linking book, and picked it up. Strange; it was warm like living flesh. Around me, the end came suddenly: everything seemed to dissolve into a blur of colour and light, before fading out of existence. People gasped: not in pain, but a sort of shocked gasp as though they had ice cold water thrown over their heads, and then faded away, too.

--

There was nothing but darkness and the wind, now. I felt it pluck at the book in my hands. It would not have my beloved Linking book!

The book blew open and a few pages were lost to the roaring force of nature that swirled. It was strange, but I seemed to be perfectly illuminated, as though by a spotlight and I could see the book perfectly. I suddenly realised that the book was what was giving off the soft, reassuring light. The pages rustled and turned until the back page was visible. There was a single photograph, and a header:

"_The End"_

The photo was of my hat. I always wore a Stetson hat, which had somehow stayed on through my ordeal and was still on my head. The hat in the photo was lying in a spotlight beam, on the floor of a darkened stage. I realised this was for me to end, and I touched the image. There was a flicker of light, and I, and everything I had ever known, been or done, was erased from existence.

--

The Pager flew through the air: somehow escaping being ended for now. It suddenly stopped in mid air and its message stood out clearly (had anyone been there to read it). Its message stayed there in fluorescent green as the Pager itself faded away into nothing, and the words stayed for a few seconds as even the wind faded to nothing:

"_Perhaps the end has not yet been written?" _


End file.
